New Las Vegas Raiders head coach Klint Kubiak still has a few more hires to make, but Kubiak is putting the final touches on his first coaching staff in Las Vegas, making another hire on Sunday. Mario Jeberaeel was announced as the Raiders’ new offensive run game coordinator, according to NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero.
Jeberaeel will be flipping sides of the ball, spending the last two seasons as a defensive assistant for the Jacksonville Jaguars. In 2024, he served as the Jaguars’ assistant outside linebackers coach under Doug Pederson and was then retained by Liam Coen last season, but in a slightly different role, serving as a defensive assistant.
However, Jeberaeel does have experience coaching offense, too. In 2022, he was the Atlanta Falcons’ assistant offensive line coach, and he has coached the position at several stops in the college ranks, including a stint at the University of Kansas. The latter is where Kubiak and Jeberaeel first worked together. The former served as the Jayhawks’ wide receiver coach while the latter was an offensive graduate assistant and assistant offensive line coach.
Jeberaeel will play a role in turning around the NFL’s worst rushing attack from last season, and his background in the trenches should help improve the Raiders’ offensive line that was the primary reason for 2025 first-round pick Ashton Jeanty’s underwhelming rookie season.
In Other Raiders’ Links:
- Can Kubiak maximize wide receivers?: “There was a time where ‘Speed Kills’ was very much a Silver & Black thing,” S&BP’s Ray Aspuria wrote. “…As of late though, speed has killed in a different way: The Las Vegas Raiders offense faceplanting with the inability to take full advantage of the speedy wide receivers on the roster.”
- What to make of Rob Leonard as defensive coordinator: diving into the new coaching staff, free agency and the 2026 NFL draft in this week’s mailbag.
- No tush push ban expected: “There’s no team proposal that I’ve seen from it,” NFL competition committee co-chairman Rich McKay said following a day of meetings at the NFL combine, viaESPN. “So, I wouldn’t envision it. But you never know.”
- NFL executives weigh in on trading No. 1 pick: “The Raiders’ roster is bad, but Mendoza is the best passer in the draft and it’s not close,” one NFC executive said, via ESPN’s Jeff Legwold, Jeremy Fowler and Roman Modrowski. “You can’t pass that up. He’s accurate to all levels of the field with a good arm, plus-size and good character.”